NEW YORK Supporters of John McCain in South Carolina are describing as "absolutely despicable" a flier -- distributed to the editors of 80 daily and weekly papers in that state, now (for better or worse) made public -- claiming that he turned his back on fellow prisoners of war in Vietnam.

Now it turns out that the man behind it all hails, far from South Carolina, way up north in Rockland county, just north of New York City. And he's promising to carry his campaign to other primary states.

Gannett's Journal News of White Plains in an article last March quoted the man, Jerry Kiley, who lives in the tiny town of Garnerville, as charging that that McCain had turned his back on POWs and their families. He called McCain a traitor to prisoners of war who he believes were left behind in Vietnam. "If he had the power of the presidency, I'd really fear for this country," Kiley said.